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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Fear Of Missing Out Drives Social Media Use.

According to the State of Social Media study, recently
released by Harris Interactive and MyLife, 62% of adults who are
currently a member of more than one social networking
site, say they keep an eye on their social networks because they don’t
want to miss something (“Fear of missing out: FOMO”). The findings also
indicate that nearly 40% would rather
undertake unpleasant or potentially painful activities before they would
give up their social networking profiles.

Jeff Tinsley, CEO of
My Life, concludes that “... consumers are
bombarded with so much information online... (that) anxiety around
missing out has shifted to digital lives (reliance on social
networks)... many people would rather run a marathon or spend a night in
jail than give up their Facebook or Twitter account...”

Not only
are consumers afraid that they’re missing out if they go too long
between log-ins, but the younger generation often
checks in with their friends and followers online before they’ve even
“rubbed the sleep from their eyes,” says the report. More than half of
social media multi-taskers want a
solution to help them manage their online overload.